Thomas Harris (born April 11, 1940) is an American author and screenwriter, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter. All of his works have been made into films, the most notable being the multi-Oscar winning The Silence of the Lambs which became only the third film in Academy Award history to sweep the Oscars in major categories.
Harris was born in Jackson, Tennessee, but moved as a child with his family to Rich, Mississippi. He was introverted and bookish in grade school and then blossomed in high school. He attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he majored in English and graduated in 1964. While in college, he worked as a reporter for the local newspaper, the Waco Tribune-Herald, covering the police beat. In 1968, he moved to New York City to work for the Associated Press until 1974 when he began work on Black Sunday.
Hannibal Lecter M.D. is a fictional character in a series of horror novels by Thomas Harris and in the films adapted from them.
Lecter was introduced in the 1981 thriller novel Red Dragon as a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The novel and its sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, feature Lecter as the secondary antagonist after the two serial killers in both novels. In the third novel, Hannibal, Lecter becomes the main character. His role as the antihero occurs in the fourth novel, Hannibal Rising, which explores his childhood and development into a serial killer.
The first film adapted from the Harris novels was Manhunter (based on Red Dragon) features Brian Cox as Lecter, spelled "Lecktor". In 2002, a second adaptation of Red Dragon was made under the original title, featuring Anthony Hopkins, who had played Lecter in the motion pictures The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Hopkins won an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. In 2003, Hannibal Lecter (as portrayed by Hopkins) was chosen by the American Film Institute as the #1 movie villain.Empire magazine lists Lecter as the 5th Greatest Movie Character of All Time.
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort or a contestant that seems unlikely to succeed.
The term began as horse racing parlance. A dark horse is a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting odds on.
The earliest-known use of the phrase is in Benjamin Disraeli's novel The Young Duke (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "A dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph."
The term has been used politically in such countries as Peru, Philippines and United States.
Politically, the term reached America in the nineteenth century when it was first applied to James K. Polk, a relatively unknown Tennessee Democrat who won the Democratic Party's 1844 presidential nomination over a host of better-known candidates. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot, and went on to win the presidential election.
Plot
Amy Mechanic, an ambitious young photographer, lands the opportunity she has been waiting for. The assignment: to create a dark collection of works based around the theme of death. Her employer: the mysterious art curator and the gallery's faceless benefactor simply known as Astrum. Striving to find her artistic voice and inspired by a local serial killer, Amy discovers that the easiest way to capture death is to kill her subjects. And as the body count rises, Amy's decent into madness grows. Soon, those closest to her will discover just how far Amy is willing to go for her art.
Keywords: anonymity, anonymous-backer, crushed-head, female-killer, female-nudity, landlord, low-budget-film, nudity, photographer, serial-killer
Amy just landed a killer job
Picture Yourself Dead.
She'd Kill To Get Her Shot.
Plot
Just teetering south of puberty, young Thomas Harris has discovered that instead of looking at stars, he can use his new telescope to study the beautiful woman next door. While 'studying', he is busted by his mother and begs her not to tell his dad. At dinner, his father asks him about his new telescope. Thomas narrowly escapes when his brother Sean finds a wishbone, and suggests that they make a wish. Reaching to break the wishbone, Thomas thinks of his ultimate dream - to see the sexy neighbor naked. Thomas' wish comes true and he stays up all night watching her. He pays the price for his sleepless night, however, the next morning when his father awakens him into a whole Nude World. To confirm his worst fears, Thomas sprints outside and discovers that it is not just a terrible dream - his vision may never be the same.
Keywords: student-film
Thomas made a wish and is about to discover the naked truth.
(Words Willcox / Music Bogen)
The burning,
Burn, burn, burn, burn, turning
I'm yearning, yearning
Your presence is my breakthrough
But all scars fade with time
They say that time is ours
And they say that youth is a flower
Whose blossoms soon blow away
Another year lying on soft blades
I love you too much to hurt you
But I must leave you behind
Your patience is your virtue
Your love light will burn forever in my mind
They say that time is ours
And they say that youth is a flower
Whose blossoms soon blow away
Another year lying on soft blades
Lying, lying, lying on soft blades
Your presence is my breakthrough
But all scars fade with time
And love heals and love forgives
Even the gratest crime yeah!
They say that time is ours
And they say that youth is a flower
Whose blossoms soon blow away